Not many answers for Packers' sputtering offense

Oct. 9, 2012

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How bad did things get for the Packers' sputtering offense against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday? Let's count the ways.

After the Packers scored touchdowns on three of their first five possessions to take a commanding 21-3 lead, their offense went in the tank. On eight of their next nine meaningful possessions they failed to score.

Here is a breakdown of those nine drives:

*3 plays, 6 yards, punt

*3 plays, 18 yards, interception

*3 plays, minus 3 yards, punt

*9 plays, 34 yards, missed field goal

*3 plays, minus 6 yards, punt

*4 plays, 22 yards, punt

*4 plays, 16 yards, punt

*2 plays, 49 yards, touchdown

*5 plays, 47 yards, missed field goal

This is what offensive coordinator Tom Clements said about the struggling offense:

“We’re not playing as an offensive group the way we want to play. You could probably say that about most everyone on the offense. It is a team game. When we start playing consistently well as an offense, everyone’s performance will be better.”

When asked if opposing defenses are playing the Packers any differently, Clements replied: "I don’t know that they are playing us differently. I think teams are playing their defense. Like Chicago, they played a lot of cover-2. (Sunday, the Colts) played cover-2 very rarely, if at all. They mixed it up. They had a plan. In the first half we out-executed them and the second half we didn’t execute as well as we needed to."